_PoP.Mus
Q
Rock Poets Society
Patti Smith’s father is
pictured on the cover of
her new CD Cung Ho.
Time has not been kind to the rock poet. In a musical world
where audience consciousness is formed by the quick-cut
mentality of MTV, is the rock poet a hopeless anachronism?
Two new releases, Cung Ho by Patti Smith (Arista), and Ecstasy
by Lou Reed (Reprise), provide a mixed answer to that question.
First, the good news. Cung Ho is a stunning return to form
by the original punk poetess, after years of substandard work.
After the deaths of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith of MC5
fame, her friend and ex-lover, photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe, and her brother Todd,
Smith’s 1996 Gone Again and 1998 Peace
and Noise were mortality-obsessed, as the
singer blurred the lines between private and
public selves. But while Gung Ho’s cover fea
tures a photo of her recently deceased father,
the album is more a celebration than a wake.
Gung Ho finds Smith taking on the role
of social commentator, like her late mentor Allen Ginsberg. On
the rockin’ single "Glitter In Their Eyes," she scathingly critiques
a society that has so easily fallen back into the "greed is good"
ethos of the ’80s. And in "Strange Messengers," Smith throws
away the lyric sheet to go off on an extended improvisation, tak
ing on the persona of a deceased black slave excoriating today’s
nihilistic street youth. Gung Ho shows Patti Smith in peak form.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for Lou Reed’s ironically named
Ecstasy. Reed has become so enveloped in himself, what with sani
tized PBS documentaries, published collections of lyrics (the new
Pass Thru Fire) and the like, that he is unable to do anything except
regurgitate past versions of himself. Ecstasy is proof
that, if you're gonna be a poet, it’s best to have
*#3® something to say. Only on the epic, free-form poem
"Like A Possum" do ---
we get any
glimpse of the
man who
penned classics
like "Heroin" and
"Sister Ray." •
For links to Patti Smith
and Lou Reed fan clubs,
label affiliations, chat
groups, music reviews
and more, log on to
www.steamtunnels.net
Reed: Time to revitalize?
Cheap Digital Cameras
Three new models for under $100
By Nick Montfort
Agfa ePhoto Smile
The new hobby of digital photography used to be expensive,
but that’s changed. A digital camera can be acquired for one
picture of Ben Franklin, bringing them to budget-conscious artists.
Even the best of these ultra-low-cost cameras takes noticeably
pixilated photos. (Not "grainy" photos; grain is a property of film.) If
super-sharp reality capture is your aim, cheap
digital photography may disappoint. But if
you're experimenting with digital art, or just
want casual snapshots, the under-$100 digi
tal cameras are for you.
There are three cameras available for
under $100. The ixla Photo Easy hooks to
USB or serial lines, stores 30 photos, but
lacks an LCD display to view the pictures you’ve taken. A Mac version
of the camera is in the works. The
Mustek VDC-3500, with only a
serial port, stores 8 photos. At lower
resolution, 26 images can be stored.
Finally, the Agfa ePhoto Smile can
hold 16 photos and has a serial inter
face, but has been reported to burn
through batteries.
At an even lower price, Polaroid offers the PhotoMax Fun
Digital 320 Creative Kit for about $60. Sans an LCD display, the
camera has 320x240 resolution and 2MB of memory to keep about
15 images. Occasionally, great media systems are tucked away in the
toy aisles, as when Fisher Price offered the incredible Pixelvision PXL
2000 video camera a few years ago. Now kiddies are being sold the
flashless JamCam, which retails for about $80, but requires long
exposures to acquire its 640x480 images. Only steady hands (or a
tripod) and bright outdoor lighting can bring decent results.
Besides the Jam Cam, there's Matell Media's camera (vari
ously branded Barbie, World Wrestling _
Federation, and Nick Click) which can
be had for about $60. Polaroid plans
to roll out a just-under-$100 I-Zone
Pocket Combination Camera later
this year. This one will sell in other
retail outlets as well as toy stores. •
If you're looking to
experiment, or just want
casual snapshots to
serve as memorabilia,
the under~$100 digital
cameras are for you
For the complete look at
cheap digital cameras, and
more of Nick Montfort's
articles on technology
tools and trends, log on
to www.steamtunnels.net
ley
%
Soyouwanna...
Avoid a ticket? Here’s the inside scoop.
Nothing can ruin your day like getting a
traffic ticket. But if you take our advice,
you'll see it’s pretty easy to talk your way out of
one. Avoiding a traffic ticket involves two things:
not getting caught in the first place, and know
ing what to do if you do.
The trick is not to draw attention to your
self. Dirty cars, bizarre bumper stickers, loud
music and red cars all attract attention; make
your car look as bland as possible. It also helps
to know the ticket quota system in your neigh
borhood. It’s true: traffic cops have a quota
each month. The beginning of the month and
the end of the month tend to be the heaviest
ticket-doling times.
And find out from friends where
they have gotten hit with tickets, and
be careful around those streets. And
if you’re traveling, there’s an online
source that you must check out,
www.speedtrap.com, a state-by-state
guide to speed traps, updated daily.
If you do get pulled over, two things help:
Crying and begging. DON’T say that you or your
passenger is sick (too much acting). A surprisingly
effective story is “Officer, I really need to use a
restroom. Could you please follow me to the near
est rest stop?” Officers will occasionally under
stand. If the officer asks you any questions (“Do
you know how fast you were going?”), always play
dumb. A cop would rather give a ticket to a
smart person who knowingly broke a rule
than to a moron who made a mistake.
NEVER be a wise guy. Asking for the
cop’s badge number, trying to bribe him,
asking to see the radar gun, trying to act
like a big shot—anything that puts the
cop on the defensive—is bad news. If you do
get a ticket, fight it in court.
Not that we encourage you to speed, of
course... •
/Tor complete details on avoiding a traffic's,
ticket, log on to www.steamtunnels.net.
For how-to articles on all sorts of cool
\stuff, visit www.soyouwanna.com.